When the Bozcaada castle in Çanakkale was first built, and by whom, is not known. What is recorded is the repairing: Mehmed the Conqueror had it thoroughly restored, another substantial repair followed in 1657 when the island was taken back from the Venetians, and inscriptions show that under Mahmud II in 1815 it was rebuilt almost from scratch. The Ministry of Culture and Tourism restored it most recently in 1996.
It has an outer and an inner castle. The outer one is an empty field today, but the traces are legible: an arsenal, a gun emplacement, training grounds and the foundations of houses. The inner castle is in two parts; the entrance section on its eastern side has two gates and holds an infirmary, a mosque with its minaret, dungeons and barracks.
Getting there
- Access
- Take a minibus between Çanakkale and Geyikli, then the ferry from Geyikli pier to Bozcaada.
When to go
- Climate
- Across Çanakkale as a whole, monthly mean temperatures run from 6.4 °C in January to 25.2 °C in August; the mean stays between 15 and 25 °C in May, June, September and October; rainfall is heaviest in December (105 mm) and lightest in August (11 mm). Long-term means for 1929-2025 from the Turkish State Meteorological Service (MGM).
